C. T. Studd

Life

Charles Thomas Studd was born on December 2, 1860, in Spratton, Northamptonshire, England, the son of Edward Studd, a wealthy retired merchant. His father was converted at an evangelistic meeting held by Dwight L. Moody. Studd himself came to faith in 1878, while a student at Eton College, through a preacher who visited the family home.

He distinguished himself as a cricketer at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1882 he played for England in a match against Australia. England's defeat in that match gave rise to "The Ashes," the cricket rivalry between the two nations.

Studd later described the years following his conversion as a time when his faith had grown cold. After hearing Moody preach in 1883 and experiencing the serious illness of his brother George in 1884, he rededicated himself to his faith. In February 1885, as one of the Cambridge Seven, he joined Hudson Taylor's China Inland Mission and departed for China. There he met Priscilla Stewart, an Irish missionary, whom he married in 1888; they had four daughters. Failing health forced his return home in 1894. He then toured American universities, contributing to the early years of the Student Volunteer Movement, and afterward served as a pastor in India for several years.

During a visit to Sudan in 1910, he became concerned that the gospel had scarcely reached Central Africa. In 1913, against his doctors' advice, he traveled with Alfred Buxton to the Belgian Congo. He spent most of the rest of his life in the Congo, while his wife remained in Britain to oversee the home base. He died at Ibambi, Congo, on July 16, 1931, at the age of 70. The cause of death is reported to have been untreated gallstones.

Ministry and Achievements

• Founding of the mission: In 1913 he founded the Heart of Africa Mission. In the Congo he opened four mission stations in a region inhabited by eight tribes and expanded the work with Ibambi as its center. As its field of activity grew, the mission was renamed the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade (WEC); it continues today as WEC International. It is an interdenominational (not affiliated with any particular denomination) evangelical mission agency devoted to evangelism and church planting in areas without churches.
• Financial principle: Like Hudson Taylor, he followed the principle of never directly soliciting funds for missions. As a result, the mission's finances were frequently precarious.
• Example of devotion: He is widely known for giving away a large inheritance to orphanages and the poor. His motto expressed the conviction that if Jesus Christ is God and died for him, then no sacrifice he could make for Him would be too great. His poem "Only One Life" is widely quoted, even by many who do not know its author.
• Writings: He contributed to The Fundamentals, the collection of essays that laid the groundwork for the fundamentalist movement of the early twentieth century. He also wrote pamphlets such as The Chocolate Soldier.

Influence on the Korean Church

Studd never worked in Korea. He is known to the Korean church indirectly, through WEC International, which he founded, and through biographies of his life. The best-known biography is C. T. Studd: Cricketer and Pioneer, published in 1933 by his son-in-law Norman Grubb. Specific details of his connection to the Korean church, such as when WEC International began its work in Korea, require further documentation, as verified sources are lacking.

Assessment

Studd is remembered as a pioneer missionary who gave up the fame and wealth of a celebrated athlete to go to regions the gospel had not reached. After his death, his son-in-law Norman Grubb led WEC and carried on the work. Assessments of Studd, however, have not been uniformly favorable. The British evangelical newspaper Evangelical Times judged that while his motives were beyond reproach, flaws could be found in his theology, missionary methods, and practice. He left for Africa against his doctors' advice and spent most of the final years of his marriage—more than a decade—apart from his wife.